Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a patchboard with several socket blocks, the individual socket blocks each having a box-shaped housing with two end faces and four side faces which extend between the end faces, and the two end faces of the socket blocks each having at least one terminal region, the side faces of the socket blocks each having at least one connecting element for connection to another socket block, the connecting elements which are made on opposite side faces being made and arranged corresponding to one another and the connecting elements each having a longitudinal extension which runs parallel to the longitudinal extension of the respective side face.
In addition, the invention relates to a socket block for building a patchboard as well as a tool for removing a socket block from a patchboard.
Description of Related Art
To connect electrical leads, for decades, electrical terminal blocks have been used of which several are generally latched next to one another on a mounting rail, several mounting rails which are equipped in this way with terminal blocks often being located in a control cabinet. Since a relatively large amount of space remains unused between the individual mounting rails, in particular where a plurality of electrical leads must be connected in a very narrow space, patchboards are often used. For this reason, patchboards are known from practice in which within a fixed rectangular mounting frame there are a plurality of socket blocks in corresponding chambers of the frame. Electrical conductors can be connected to the patchboard or individual socket blocks both from the front, the field side, and also from the back, the station side. To do this, in the box-shaped housings of the individual socket blocks there are terminal elements which are generally connected to one another via corresponding conductor bars so that an electrical conductor which has been inlet through a corresponding conductor inlet opening in the front end face can be electrically joined to an electrical conductor or a terminal contact which has been inlet through a corresponding inlet opening in the rear end face of the housing.
For example, German Patent Application DE 195 12 226 A1 discloses one such patchboard with a plurality of socket blocks. In the patchboard disclosed in this document the individual socket blocks which have been inserted in the individual chambers of the mounting frame all have the same dimensions. On their upper and lower edge side one mounting flange tongue at a time is tightly joined to the patchboard, via which the patchboard can be fastened by means of screws on a mounting frame. It is not possible to adapt the patchboard to individual wishes of the user in this known patchboard. If the number of conductors to be connected has to be increased, a correspondingly larger patchboard with a larger number of individual socket blocks must be used, in practice patchboards with 18, 32, 48, 54 or 80 socket blocks being available.
German Patent Application DE 10 2014 101 528 A1 discloses a patchboard which is characterized by increased flexibility and the possibility of adapting the patchboard to individual wishes. This is achieved by the individual side faces of the socket blocks each having at least one locating element for connecting to another socket block. The locating elements which are made on opposing side faces are made and arranged corresponding to one another so that the socket blocks can be directly connected to one another. In this way the use of a rigid mounting frame which fixes the number of individual socket blocks can be eliminated so that the patchboard can fundamentally have any number of socket blocks.
The socket blocks known from German Patent Application DE 10 2014 101 528 A1 on their individual side faces have drop-in pins which can be inserted into corresponding locating holes on the opposite side face of an adjacent socket block. Moreover, the socket blocks each have on one side face two locating hooks which can be hooked into longitudinal locating holes which are made on the opposing side face. Both the drop-in pins and also the locating hooks extend perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of the respective side face so that the patchboard must be disassembled line by line or column by column After connecting of the individual socket blocks, a very stable patchboard which enables signal distribution on an extremely small space is enabled.
A patchboard in which likewise the use of a mounting frame can be omitted is also disclosed by German DE 35 87 796 T2 corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,879. In this patchboard on which this invention is based, on the side faces of the individual socket blocks several ridges are made to which on the opposite side face of the socket blocks there are corresponding grooves. The ridges and grooves each run parallel to the longitudinal extension of the respective side face, i.e., in the extension direction from one end face to the other end face. Two socket blocks which are located next to one another can thus be easily connected by the ridges on the side face of one socket block being inserted into the corresponding grooves on the opposite side face of the other socket block. Projections made on the grooves provide for two socket blocks not being able to be displaced against one another in the longitudinal direction of the side faces after connecting.
In order to reliably connect to one another two socket blocks which have been connected in this way, in the known patchboard there are separate fastening elements in the form of interlocking wedges which are pushed into a recess which is made between two connected socket blocks. To form the recess, in their side faces the socket blocks each have notches which are opposite one another and which are made dovetailed. The interlocking wedge has a bilaterally dovetailed cross section corresponding thereto. Moreover, on one front end of the interlocking wedge a locating hook is made which provides for latching of the interlocking wedge in the recess when it has been pushed fully into the recess between two socket blocks.
In the patchboard known from the prior art, the locating elements made on the individual socket blocks thus optionally together with separate fastening elements provide for a reliable and stable connection of the individual socket blocks to one another so that a stable patchboard is formed without a corresponding mounting frame being necessary. But the disadvantage is that due to the completed latching of the individual socket blocks to one another, disassembly of the patchboard is either not possible at all or is only possible with increased effort. The dismounting of a socket block which is not located directly on the edge of the patchboard is as poorly possible as the insertion of a new socket block in the interior of the patchboard so that the replacement of individual defective socket blocks is not possible or is possible only with increased effort.